Garment-pressing machine



H. C. SPENCER.

GARMENT PRESSING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25. m2o.

1,856,321. Patented oct. 19,1920.

g/Z I gu ofr/ UNiEn simi-1151s,

HAROLD coRrLAND SPENCER, or sYmicUsn, NEW YORK.

GARMnNT-PRESSING MACHINE. l

`Specification of Letters Patentl y Patented 0615.19, 1920.

Application filed March as, 1920.,.,seria1 No.' 368,680.

Y T all whom z'may concern Be it known that I, I-IARoLoG. SPENcEii, of Syracuse,vin'the county of Onondaga,"1n

and useful Improvements inl Garment-Press.

ing Machines, of which the'following, taken i in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description This invention relates to certain improvements in garment pressing Inachines involvf ing the use of similar coperativepressing f elements, movable one in relatlon to theother, in which steam is applied Vto the gar-l ment for moistening purposes through per'- forations or apertures in the pressplates of kone or rthe other of said elements.

In .machines of this character now `in com-v mon: and extensive use,` provision is made for holding the pressing elements against relative movement during the pressing oper-A ation, as -distinguished from ironing ma` chmes, to avoldimparting an objectionable glossy or shiny appearance. to the garment,

and, ,for the same purpose, the meeting faces or press plates of l both 'elements are usually covered withfcloth or fabricjpads of varying thicknesses, -Which also perform the.` function of distributing the steam moisturev more evenly over the. surface orsurfaces of the garment under pressure.

Furthermore, 'these pressing elements are usually steam heated and provided with perforations in one. or; the other of the press plates' for thefa-dmission of` steam to the .pads and thence tothe garment forvmoisteningA purposes. i I v l The main object of my, present invention is to utilize a machineof this character vforA ironing purposes, or for the purpose ofjimparting more or less-gloss to certain kinds of garments, such, for eXampleas duck,- linen and similar coats, vests, trousersLskirts and the like, without leavingthe imprints ofthe steaming perforations or the steamV jets upon the garment.-

In carrying out this object, the pads ory 'fabric coverings for the press .plates areV omitted, and the pressplates are made of metal having their surfaces polished so as to move freely across the surface of the garment while the latter is under pressure, onev or the other of said plates being perforated d or provided withfapertures through wh-ich the steam may be projected to the garment for moistening purposes.

It, therefore, follows that if, underthese conditions, thej pressing elements wereA al-v j rations vwould leave objectionable y.imprints jlowed 'to remain infi- X'ed4 relative lpositions 'the State of New York,.have.invented new of the steam jets upon the surface ofthe garment, and one of they specific objects of my inventionis vto takev advantage of this highly desirable 'method of applying steam to the garment for moistening purposes, and, at the same time, to limpart-to the garment 'the desired Igloss without'leaving the imprints of the steam jets upon the surface ina machine of this character, in which one *or the'otherxof-.two similar pressing ele- .ments is provided .with a perforated or apertured press plate, means for projecting steam through the perforations of the ga'r-` ment, and additional means for causin-g the.'` press plate of one of thev ressing elements, to traverse the surface oft le opposite press. plate under a sli ht reciprocatoryor recurL rentY motion wlii e the pressing elements are in their pressing positionsin contact' with the'garment for imparting a glo'ssyfinishv lto .the surfaceor vsurfaces of saidgarment during or following the application vofsteam theretothrough the perforated or apertured plate, whereby the reciprocatory or recurrent movement will obliterate any impressions or imprints of the steam jets uponjthe garment. z

Other objects-and uses relating to specific parts of -the machine will be brought out in the following'description In` the drawings; i j

A Figure 1-` isa top plan, p'artlyinv section, of a'portionfof a garment pressing ma- .chine embodying the various features of my invention. j f y i F ig. `2 is an end view, partly in section, of the same machine, an electric 'motor being shown by' dotted lines as the source of powery forv driving. the mechanism which 'l produces a reciprocatory yre-current motion of one ofthe pressing elements. .Fig. f- -3- is a side elevation of a portion of the. supporting frame for the upper pressingv element, showing the means whereby said frame vmay be reciprocated horizontally alndv rocked vertically upon its supporting s ia t.

Fig. 4- is a detailed sectional View of the lower pressing element, and means for reciprocating the same horizontally. A

Fig. -5- is a sectional View taken in the plane of line 5 5, Fig. -4-.

In order that my invention may be clearly understood, I have shown a pair of similar Apermit the frame to be rocked vertically about the axis of a horizontal shaft -5- some distance to the rear of and approXimately in the same horizontal plane as the meeting faces of the pressing elements -l and 2* when the latter are in their pressing positions, the axis of the shaft 5- being substantially parallel with the longitudinal centers of said pressing elements, the end'of said frame 4lbeing adapted to receive a counterweight or spring, not shown, for automatically raising the head -2- following the pressing operation. y

The buck 1* is provided with a heatingchamber -6- adapted to be connected by a pipe -T to any availablesource of steam supply for keeping the buck at the desired temperature for ,sterilizing andldrying purposes without liability of overheating the garment.

As illustrated, in Figs. -Q-, et-Land -5-, the buck -lis slidably mounted upon its support 3-, and for this purpose, said support is provided at yitsupper end withan annular flange -8-, upon which thel bottom of the main body of the buck rest-s. A retaining plate -9- is secured by bolts -10- to the underside of the main body of the buck -1- around the flange and is engaged with the underside of said fiange `to hold the buck in a` horizontal .position against displacement from itssupport -3-, leaving sufficient A clearance between the sides of said support and the side walls of the plate --9- to allow the buck tobereciprocated horizontally upon the support -3.

The means for producing this reciproca-` tory or recurrent motion consists, in this instance, of a revoluble vertical shaft journaled' in `a central opening- 12 in the support ,--3-, and having its upper end provided with an eccentric 13- which enters a recess -14- in the underside of the main body of the buck and engages a bearing block 15- in said recess, said recess and bearing block being preferably angular in cross-section to prevent rotation` of the block by the rotation of the eccentric -l3-, and, at the same time, serving as a means of transmitting motion from said eccentric to the buck relative to the head Theshaft -l1- may be driven by any suitable mechanism, but will preferably be driven `by suitable connections with an electric motor -A-, these connections not being shown for the reason `that anyone skilled in the art would readily provide suitable mechanism for transmitting motion from the motor shaft to the shaft 4l- The head -2 is provided with a heating chamber l7 and a distributing chamber -16- disposed one above the other and separated by a. partition --18-Y to form non-communicating compartments, both of which are connected `by branches '-19` and *20w to a supply pipe --21 leading from any available source of steam supply, not shown. The branch pipe 20- leading to the steam compartment or distributing chamber l6 is provided with a self-closingvalve -22- having aI lhand lever 2i-3* by which it may be opened at will to allow steam to pass to he chamber *16-. Both of the pressing elements are .provided with substantially fiat press plates 2%- and -25- of suitable metal, having ltheir adjacent faces pol- Iished and exposed, one to the other for engaging the adjacent surfaces of a garment which may be placed between them for moistening and pressing purposes, the press plate -5- of the head 2- being provided with perforations or openings QG- to permit the steam to pass from the chamberhlG* to the garment for moistening said garment when the press- ,ing elements are brought together.

-A baffle plate 2T- is sul'iportedin the chamber 16- parallel with and spaced apart from the press plate ,-25- andy partition l8- to cause the distribution of the steam laterally around the edges of the baffle plate, which edges are spa'ced apart from the side walls of the' chamber -l6 to allow the steam to pass through the per forations -2G.

Suitable means are also provided for causing a reciprocatory or recurrent horizontal movement of the press plate -25- while the head 2- is in its pressing position for obliterating the imprints of the steam jet upon thc garment, and also for producing the desired gloss or finish to the Aadjacent surface of the garment which is preferably placed upon the prcssplate Qlwith surface to be finished uppermost.

The means for producing this reciprocatory or recurrent motion of the head 2- preferablil consists of a` rotary eccentric 428- which is secured to the shaft 5*- the l within a recess or opening 4--29-' in the yso frame -4- and is preferably engaged with a wearing block or bearing 30 The recess -29--is elongated vertically to correspond with thethrow of the eccentric 2S- the -bearing block -30- being,

-slidable vertically in said recess by the rotation of the eccentric, and engages the side walls of the recess'to impart backward and forward movement of the frame -4, and

. tothereby cause the plate 25- to traverse the surface of the garment vresting upon thel The shaft y-5--- is journaledin stationary bearings 31- on the main supporting frame, as -'B, and is held against radial;`

movement by said bearings, and is lalso held against axial movement by collars -32-,

which engage the outer ends of the bearings.

lThe bearing block -30- is 'held against endwi'se movement in the recess i29- by y plates -33- .which are sec, ed by bolts B4- to the opposite sides olfltdie adjacent portion of theA frame 4land are provided with forwardly and rearwardly elongated slots ,-35%- for receiving the adjacent portion of the shaft -5- and permitting forward and rearward'inovement lof the said #428-, isrotated, the plates' -33- being engaged with the inner ends of thebearings '31- to hold the frame against axial movement along the shaft -5-. p

The motor A may besecured in any suitable manner tothe frame B, and its armature` shaft provided with a worm' l----`36- meshing with the worm vgear 37-A on the shaft 5j for rotating the cam'or eccentricv -28-, and thereby imparting horizontal rev ciprocatory motiony to the head'4 2 through the medium of its supportingframe j Any well known form of pedal operated mechanism, not shown, "may be used` for rocking the frame -4' about the axis of its supporting shaft .-5--, or -it may be moved upwardly anddownwardly by means of a handle -38- on the front portion of the head Q, as shown in Rigas-1 and --2. v

Operation.

, The garment to be treated is placed upon erably, une head is raised or rocked upwyardly and rearwardly, which leaves a clear open space at the fron't-'forj;. inspection 4and proper arrangement ofthe "f garment upon the buck, after which the head is brought down to a pressing position into contact withA the garment and held in that position with more or less pressure while it is being reciprocated back and forth by the Arotation of ,thel eccentric -28-, during which time steam is applied to the garment through the perforations -26 to supply the necessarylmoisture, without saturation,

which enables the garmentto be reshaped i and its surface glossed, the backward and forward polishing movement serving to ob-v literate any imprints of the steam jets which' may have been .impressed in ,the surface of the garment, or, what is more to the purpose, serves to' prevent the formation of said imprints by the' constantly changing positions of the openings or perforations .-26-' during this pressing operation while the steam is being admitted to the garment through I the perforations M26-Q Said steam forms a thin elastic cushion over the surface of the garment which greatly `assists inthe free `traversing movement of the perforated plate over said garmentsurface `without liability of wrinkling the` garment, it being understood that thetraversing movement is comparativelyv slight, but coversthe entire area sof ofboth elements in one and the same movement, thereby imparting the desired finish to af correspondingly large area of the gar'- "ment, which greatly eXpedites the output by eXpediting the'work and correspondingly reducing the iron marks so common 1n the use of sad irons and analogous implements.

7 In-some instances, it may be desired to allow the upper pressing element .to remain stationary or in its pressing position without the vibratory movement, in-which case, the buck f1 with the garment thereon may be reciprocated or caused to, traverse the face of the head -2- while the llatter .is inv its pressing position and delivering steam't'o the garment to impart the desired finisher glossto the surface thereof. If necessary, botlrthe head and buck may be operatedsimultaneously to traverse the surfaces ofeac'h other by the operation of `both of the eccentrics -1B- and '-,28-, one motion being rectilinear and the other gyrator. f

t is evident,howeve r, that other means maybe provided for producing thesevmovements,and, therefore, I ldo not wish to limit myself tothe construction shown and described, sinee the essential purpose is to permit the application of steam toa relatively large area of the garment during the pressing operation, and, at the same time, to impart a traversing movement toone or the other of the pressing elements for the purpose of avoiding the production of imprints from the steam jets and also of producing a glossy and smooth finish to the surface of the garment..

\Vhat I claim is:

l. In a garment pressing machine comprising similar cooperative pressing` elements, one of which is movahle toward and from the other, one of said elements having steam exit openings through its presser face, and means for causing one of the elements to traverse the face of the other element with a` slightl recurrent motion when said element-s are in their pressing positions to avoid imprints f the steam jets. and to produce glossyv finish to the surface. of the garment.

2. A garment pressing machine comprising cooperative pressing elements of suhstantially equal area., one of said elements having a perforated press plate provided with a smooth polishing surface` means for causing the last named element to move across the surface of the other element with a recurrent motion while the elements are in their pressing positions, and means for projecting steam through the perforated plate.

3. In a garment pressing machine, a gar- `ment supporting huelgav superposed press head movable toward and from the buck and provided with a perforated press plate hav- ,for causing one of the pressing elements to move With arecurrent motion' across the pressing face of the Vother element when saidy elements are in their pressing positions.

et. In a garment pressing machine, two steam heated pressing 4elements of similar area, and means for causing one of the elements to move with a recurrent motion. across the surface of the other element, one of said elements having a perforated press plate provided with a smooth polishing surface, and means for projecting steam through the perforated plate to the garment during the said recurrent motion.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

THEoDoRn MARTH, Tiros. B. Turri-Nn. 

